


Presumed Guilty

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Exiled Ben AU [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Character Bashing, Gen, M/M, but inferences nonetheless, i don't know how luke ended up being characterized as he was, inferences of mind rape, it does not happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-24 21:15:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12021138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: The exile of Ben Solo.





	Presumed Guilty

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Devil to pay
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author's Notes: Trigger warning for mistaken rape inferences. Also, this is an AU from "A Matter of Ren" (chapter forty one -- at least on AO3 -- of "The Broken Edge") after Ben and Poe first forge their bond. And Luke...I am sorry about Luke's characterization here. I really am.

The Council chamber is quiet even as Ben walks inside. The faces of the Jedi Council could have been carved from stone in that very moment, and Ben feels like ice has settled in his gut. Finally, Luke speaks. "Do you know why we have called you here?" he says.   
  
"I have a good idea." Ben says.   
  
"The Force is not a thing to be trifled with," Luke says. "Using it frivolously is bad enough, but to use it to impose your will upon another, to violate another's will...that is something else entirely."  
  
And Ben knows already what they mean. "You think I...mentally raped Poe?"  
  
The silence in the Council chamber is too still.   
  
Ben already feels like he's been punched in the stomach. "Me? That's a lie."  
  
"Are you honestly calling me a liar?" Luke's voice is stern, cold, certainly nothing like the uncle that Ben knows usually.   
  
"It is a lie, Uncle. I wouldn't do... _that_ to Poe. I love him."  
  
There. There it is. The confession of his love, before the Council, open for ridicule no doubt. His confession, raw and desperate all the while. He knows Poe didn't even have a say in this meeting. This is some sort of screwed up court.   
  
The Council starts murmuring among themselves. All they're missing are pearls to clutch, Ben knows that. Aunt Alora looks at him with the utmost compassion before turning towards Luke. "He's telling the truth. Even if there were no Force, I'd believe him."  
  
"He has still committed a great wrong," Luke says. "You misused your powers. I thought I taught you that the mind of another is a private thing, but it seems that you didn't learn that lesson with what you did to Poe Dameron. I thought that I could keep you from falling to the Dark Side as well. I was wrong. You are a danger to all in this building, and a disappointment to the Jedi."  
  
Uncle Luke might as well have reached out and slapped him.   
  
"Your lightsaber," Uncle Luke says. "Give it to me."  
  
Ben wishes that he could have stabbed the stone slab as Arawn Sinn did centuries before. In the end, he supposes that the shock and grief was too great. And the Jedi are right and he is wrong. That's how it's always been.   
  
It's heading out towards the hangar, past the whispering Jedi, that he finds Poe with BB-8 near an X-wing. And he has to be amazed. "Poe?"  
  
"None other," Poe says, grinning. Then his grin falters. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"  
  
"Just...shaken."  
  
They move into the shadows, and for a moment, Ben thinks, they're meeting like lovers do. Lovers in the shadows, the other trying to come to grips with what he's done.   
  
"They think I raped you."  
  
Poe stares at him, looking like he's just been hit by a speeder. Then, "But...you didn't! Stars, Ben, how can they say that? Are they willing to stoop that low? I  _consented._ Do they not know what consent is, for the love of -- "  
  
"So I didn't rape you."  
  
"No, Ben. I know you never would."  
  
"I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you."  
  
"I know you wouldn't." Poe places his hands on Ben's upper arms. "If you're going, so am I," he says. "I promise you, Ben."  
  
Ben doesn't know how he got so lucky. He truly doesn't. He only knows that he's lucky to have Poe, doubtlessly lucky, and even as they head off towards an uncertain future, he can only hope that wherever they are, he can keep Poe safe. 


End file.
